The alcohol industry should be ashamed of once again misleading the Australian public with flawed claims made in a commissioned report on alcohol-related admissions to hospitals, the Chief Executive Officer of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA), Mr David Templeman said today.
“This is just another attempt by the distillers to pedal misinformation in the alcopop debate in an attempt to derail the Federal Government’s taxation initiative aimed at stemming harmful alcohol consumption,” Mr Templeman said.
“How can the industry actually be taken seriously when their own report acknowledges that the impact of the proposed tax change on levels of binge-drinking, particularly young people consuming ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, can’t be determined at this early stage.”
Mr Templeman said that the validity of the report is brought into question by the fact that it included numerous caveats and faults with the data throughout the document. “It is unfortunate that the quality of this report is based short-term hospital data collected from State and Territory Health Departments over a period of eight weeks. This appears to have led the researcher to conclusions that are seriously flawed,” Mr Templeman said.
“There is no substantive data from New South Wales, the Northern Territory, or the Australian Capital Territory, there is no clinical evidence to clearly identify that presentations and separations to/ from hospitals were alcohol-related, and no analysis of how many times a single person may have presented.”
Mr Templeman said that distortion of statistical data to achieve objectives was something “good corporate citizens” wouldn’t attempt to do if they were concerned about the health and wellbeing of all Australians.
“ADCA applauds the Federal Government for introducing the alcopop taxation bills to Parliament and urges all political parties to adopt a bi-partisan attitude to consider and pass this much needed legislation,” Mr Templeman said.
“As the national peak non-government (NGO) body representing the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector, ADCA will continue its support for the alcopop tax reform".
“We look forward to seeing additional resourcing directed to short and long-term prevention measures in order to significantly reduce alcohol-related harm. This includes management of responsible drinking, product branding, outlet density, marketing and advertising, opening hours, alcohol awareness projects for communities, and most importantly legitimate data on which to progress the Government’s National Binge Drinking Strategy for a healthy Australia.”
25 February 2009
Media Enquiries: Brian Flanagan,Manager Strategic Communications and Policy
Phone 02 6215 9802 or 0400 860 058
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